April 2008 Grocery Challenge

Keeping_Positive

Right Im signing off for a few days. Monies will be coming out of the holiday budget which isnt high so will use as many tips from here as I can. Looking forward to the 20+ pages I will come back to!

Already got a box of food to go and taking a full cooler as well.

mrs-moneypenny

was a bit embarrassed in tesco saturday morning, i used some coupons (havent in ages but thought i need to start again) a few were for products i brought and one for liquid washing stuff (which they sell wasn't) she got well funny with me when i asked if i could use that one. "if you didnt actually buy the product you CANT use it, its a money off coupon which means you actually have to buy the product" was her reply, then she made a meal of going through my reciept to check i'd brought all the other products (i only gave her five coupons!) lucky she didnt check the name on the £3 off if you spend £30 tesco coupon DD picked it up in their carpark friday night after the person whos name was on it dropped it ,

so did i do wrong or just get unlucky with the cashier i choose?

just need some tomatos today i know i asked for them on the market but when we got home didnt have them (we buy all the salad off one stall so just get the bags full passed over at the end)

kids back to school today so im back at work, must put jacket pots in before i go so dinners ready when im back. not sure about tea as were off to a free film tonight. either make do with toast once were back or tea out if we pop in a pub:D

Cruiksl

Well had hoped on a no spend day but on the way back from dropping ds at nursery, dd asked me for a sausage roll from Greggs for her lunch. So bought her one and little cake so down £0.84. Have got my lunch in though back on Tesco's GI diet so it's soup and pitta bread for lunch and coriander steak and sweet potato wedges for tea and then fruit salad later on - yum.

Hoping only to buy milk this week so fingers crossed.

ifonlyitwaseasier

morning,

NSD hopefully today, don't need anything and have left over hm pizza for my lunch. and as we have milk and hm rolls at home i'm hoping OH doesn't need to spend either

sashanut

Well my NSD on Sat turned into a very Spend day - took self & DD to dentists & was thrilled when nothing needed to doing to either of us - bill was only £16.20! Flushed with success called in Asdas with DD on way back, always fatal.....bill there was about £29 although DD says she 'will pay me back' for the stuff she wanted. On a more positive note I checked the baking aisle for bargains & found dessicated coconut for 11p - Rollback price, also very long sell-by date. Helped myself to 4 packs but watched cashier like a hawk & they came up at 23p each. Then had to go to customer services - much eye-rolling from DD involved - but got a refund of 50p.....many thanks to Weazl for the tip on baking ingredients. Will be making impossible coconut pie with some of it once I get some eggs!

BTW Weazl - any chance of recipe for meatloaf please?? Now I have to meal plan like mad to make the budget for the rest of the month, I have an aversion to doing it for some reason; seem to approach it from the opposite direction ie what do I need to make a meal? Rather than - I have such & such in, how do I make a meal from WHAT I'VE GOT IN!! Starting today..off to update sig...

moo2moo

Re - MOC for things you haven't bought.

I find it easier to be upfront and honest about this. If you ask the check out assistant if you can use vouchers for items you haven't bought 90% of the time they say "just a few". Saves any hassle with them debating whether or not you've bought something. Sainsburys generally refuse completley.

Meanwhile I'm on a no spend week. Tesco have put my card on their "warm" list for groceries but not direct or wine (selective fraud prevention????). Would have been nice if they'd told me rather than me making 4 phone calls over 2 weeks to figure it out. Hopefully this will be resolved today (I'll believe it when it happens) apparently its nothing I've done but I'm a bit random with my orders and this is an indicator of fraud. Asda then sent a wonderful letter saying following a review of their records waffle drone they have cancelled my current card (fraud prevention) and a new one will be with me in 7-10days. Obviously it would be nice if either company had bothered to phone me to say something had happened. So its been a no spend week as no cards means no cash machine, no in store swiping and no internet shopping.

On the up side it is working wonders on the contents of my cupboards. HM chicken soup with HM bread and apple crumble yesterday. HM macaroni cheese for lunch. HM pizza and HM Bara Brith for dinner. Will also make sausage rolls for tomorrows lunch boxes while the oven is on.

WelshWoofer

What's happening to me?
I seem to be turning (a-la Mr Jekyll) into a different person!

This weekend I have made curried parsnip and potato soup, a giant jaffa cake, potato salad and a quiche! I NEVER cook from scratch! Thank you to all for their inspiration and recipes - for a complete kitchen dunce like me it all helps!

Anyway, only spent £7.98 in Sainsburys on Saturday and nothing at all yesterday so not too bad - the freezer and cupboards are full and I have fresh stuff for tea for the next 2/3 days.

I'm just off to update the sig but please keep the ideas coming - it's a revelation most days!

mrs-moneypenny

well my promise to only buy tomatoes today didnt last long:o .

went in sainsburys, got toms, then decided to make in laws a batch of scones so brought cream and white sr flour (i only have wholemeal in) i can use the rest up when school have a cake sale.
saw walnut pieces reduced to 75p for a 200g bag so had a couple of those, while at school found out a friend had broken her ankle skiing over the hols so got her a card and brought a doz free range eggs for £1.38 while i was in there. tomorrow when vegan DD is back at college we can have omlette for dinner. She moans about the smell if we eat eggs while shes here.

tomorrow is a nsd, as im waiting in for the builders all day re the crack in the wall and the missing roof tiles.

Mortgagefreeforme

Just popped in to update my signature. We had HM pizza for tea last night and it's HM veggie bake for us or pasta bake for the kids tonight.
Wil be going past a farmfoods later so I may go in to see if there are any bargains, no biccies needed tho as I had a major bake on Friday.
Keep up the good work everyone.:T

weezl74

moo2moo wrote: »

...HM Bara Brith for dinner....

positively illegal not to tell us the recipe. Naughty moo2moo

Weezl x